Experience should help John Farrell

Credit: Matt Stone

MOVIN’ ON UP: Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington leads new manager John Farrell up the stairs for yesterday’s press conference at Fenway Park.

Nine years ago, the Red Sox hired a manager with a losing record who caused more than one fan to wonder, “This guy’s going to take us to the promised land?”

Four years later, after Terry Francona had ended the Curse and guided the Red Sox to their second World Series title of the decade, those same fans were rightfully calling him the greatest manager in team history.

Could it happen again? The Red Sox hope so.

Yesterday they introduced John Farrell as their 46th manager after two underwhelming seasons in Toronto, where the Jays finished fourth twice and only avoided last place this year because the Red Sox were historically awful.

Farrell earned his share of criticism in Toronto down the stretch, taking heat for everything from the homophobic slur written on the eye black of shortstop Yunel Escobar, to the runaway freight train impersonation by youngster Brett Lawrie on the bases, to the damning charges of unaccountability by future Hall of Famer Omar Vizquel.

Francona endured similar trials during his Phillies tenure, and he didn’t always handle them perfectly, like initially being too buddy-buddy with his players during card games. He later referred to the Philly years as a mulligan.

This is not to say Farrell will follow a similar path when he leads the Red Sox into battle next season. But it is to say that Farrell’s Toronto experience should not necessarily be viewed as a strike against him now that he’s in the big chair.

Just as Francona once prefaced candid remarks about the apprenticeship nature of the Phillies job by saying, “The people of Philadelphia probably won’t want to hear this,” neither, too, will Jays fans be thrilled at Farrell’s take on his two years up north.

“The opportunity that they provided and the two years that were spent there was invaluable experience,” he said yesterday. “Things might not have always worked out the way we intended, but there were a lot of firsts that I was able to experience there and I’ll forever be indebted to the Toronto Blue Jays. I can honestly tell you, it’s allowed me to be a lot more prepared standing here today than maybe would have been the case two years ago. For that, the guys in Toronto, if you’re listening, I appreciate that very much.”

The Farrell who takes over the Red Sox is in a much better position to lead than the Farrell of two years ago, or even last year, when the Red Sox first came calling.

“There were times where I could have, and this comes from those experiences in Toronto, in my relationship with (general manager) Alex (Anthopoulos) and the conversations we would have regarding the roster, there might have been opportunities for me to speak a little bit more passionately toward some suggestions or recommendations to the roster,” Farrell said.

“We also introduced and brought in a number of young players. We created a diverse offense that was aggressive. We looked to incorporate a much more aggressive running game. Some of that was overboard and some of that we ran into some outs. Creating that environment and that approach and then putting young players into it, there probably were opportunities where I should have shut them down as far as the X’s and O’s of the game. Maybe I would have changed closers a little bit quicker.”

Those experiences are all part of learning and growing as a manager. Francona needed to undergo that trial by fire in Philly, where he posted a record of 285-363, before leading the Red Sox to the promised land.

The Red Sox believe John Farrell is ready to make a similar leap, which is why they’re not sweating his lackluster results in Toronto.